Penal Code Section 12022.7

San Francisco DUI cases where the District Attorney has chareged this
enhancement are among the the most serious. This enhancement is not charged by the
California Highway Patrol Officer or local police officer making the
felony DUI injury arrest. The Great Bodily Injury (GBI) enhancement is charged by the prosecutor
reviewing the police reports and making the ultimate charging decisions.

The crux of the Penal Code Section 12022.7 Great Bodily Injury enhancement
is that it adds an additional State Prison sentence of three (3) years
for each person other than the
driver who suffers a significant or substantial injury in addition to the
sentence for the driving under the influence causing injury. If a person other than the driver is placed in a comatose condition due
to a brain injury or suffers paralysis as a consequence of five (5) years.
As well, children under five and those over seventy are covered by this
statute which is reprinted below.

Penal Code Section 12022.7 provides:

(a) Any person who personally inflicts great bodily injury on any person
other than an accomplice in the commission of a felony or attempted felony
shall be punished by an additional and consecutive term of imprisonment
in the state prison for three years.

(b) Any person who personally inflicts great bodily injury on any person
other than an accomplice in the commission of a felony or attempted felony
which causes the victim to become comatose due to brain injury or to suffer
paralysis of a permanent nature, shall be punished by an additional and
consecutive term of imprisonment in the state prison for five years. As
used in this subdivision, “paralysis” means a major or complete
loss of motor function resulting from injury to the nervous system or
to a muscular mechanism.

(c) Any person who personally inflicts great bodily injury on a person
who is 70 years of age or older, other than an accomplice, in the commission
of a felony or attempted felony shall be punished by an additional and
consecutive term of imprisonment in the state prison for five years.

(d) Any person who personally inflicts great bodily injury on a child under
the age of five years in the commission of a felony or attempted felony
shall be punished by an additional and consecutive term of imprisonment
in the state prison for four, five, or six years.

(e) Any person who personally inflicts great bodily injury under circumstances
involving domestic violence in the commission of a felony or attempted
felony shall be punished by an additional and consecutive term of imprisonment
in the state prison for three, four, or five years. As used in this subdivision,
“domestic violence” has the meaning provided in subdivision
(b) of Section 13700.

(f) As used in this section, “great bodily injury” means a
significant or substantial physical injury.

(g) This section shall not apply to murder or manslaughter or a violation
of Section 451 or 452. Subdivisions (a), (b), (c), and (d) shall not apply
if infliction of great bodily injury is an element of the offense.

(h) The court shall impose the additional terms of imprisonment under either
subdivision (a), (b), (c), or (d), but may not impose more than one of
those terms for the same offense. [Amended by Stats. 2002, Ch. 126, Sec.
6. Effective January 1, 2003. Repealed as of January 1, 2012, by Stats.
2010, Ch. 711. See later operative version in Title 2 as added by Ch. 711]

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